Kroenke hosts $17 job fair 2 weeks after conducting layoffs

Kroenke Sports Enterprises hosted a “career fair” at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City on March 28, just more than two weeks after conducting a round of layoffs that may have involved roughly two dozen workers.

KSE, which owns the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and the Pepsi Center, among other holdings, said in a posting about the event that attendees could “learn more about available internship and paid positions.”
“Don’t forget to bring plenty of resumes!” the post reads.

In a statement given to The Post’s Penny Parker on March 11, KSE said: “We recently have been forced to make difficult financial decisions during these trying economic times to decrease costs. Because of the numerous economic challenges faced at KSE and all businesses locally, nationally and globally, we are saddened to announce that we have made staff reductions.”

Not only was the fair held after KSE cut jobs, the company charged a $17 entrance fee. KSE hosted the event in conjuction with the company’s soccer franchise, the Colorado Rapids. The $17 entrance fee included a ticket to the Rapids/Wizards game later that evening.

Amid the recession, job fairs are popping up left and right, legitimate or not. The KSE career event appears unusual, not only because of the company’s cost cutting moves just two weeks earlier, but because it may have been used to promote and increase attendance to a sporting contest.

Emilie Rusch covers retail and commercial real estate for The Post. A Wisconsin native and Mizzou graduate, she moved to Colorado in 2012. Before that, she worked at a small daily newspaper in South Dakota. It's the one with Mount Rushmore.